Finding Butehamun – Scribe of Deir El-Medina
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Finding Butehamun Scribe of Deir el-Medina ’I would prefer to go on at Deir el-Medina,” Ramses said…“The site is unique...do you realize what we might learn from it? We’ve come across a cache of papyrus and a number of incribed ostrica; they confirm my belief that the people who lived in the village were craftsmen and artists who worked in the royal tombs of the Valley of the Kings.’ (From ’The Golden One’ by Elizabeth Peters) George Wood Kandidat uppsats i egyptologi 15 hp, VT 2016 Campus Engelska Parken Handledare: Sami Uljas 1 Abstract Butehamun was one of the most famous scribes involved in the building of the royal tombs of the Valley of the Kings, and a member of the most illustrious family of scribes there. Butehamun presided over the closure of the Valley and the workers’ village of Deir elMedina, and the move from building new tombs to the preserving and moving (some would say plundering) of the mummies left behind, marking the transition from the New Kingdom to the Third Intermediate Period, as Egypt splintered into what were essentially two realms. By studying the primary sources associated with Butehamun, including letters, reburial ‘dockets’, graffiti, the apparently unique decorations on Butehamun’s coffin, and the finds at his excavated house in Medinet Habu, this paper investigates what can be learned about Butehamun and the reburial project. Some of the sources seem to indicate he experienced some kind of religious crisis, which may have been brought on by feelings of guilt over his treatment of the royal mummies, two of whom were worshipped as gods in Deir el-Medina. Keywords: Butehamun, Dhutmose, Deir el-Medina, mummies, caches, reburial, Valley of the Kings, crisis of faith Butehamon var en av de mest kända av de skrivare som deltog i byggandet av de kungliga gravarna i Konungarnas dal. Han tillhörde en av de mest framstående skrivaresläkterna där. Butehamon övervakade stängningen av dalen och arbetarnas by Deir el-Medinah. Det var han som ansvarade för arbetet när man övergick från att bygga nya gravar till att flytta (vissa skulle säga plundra) de mumier som lämnades kvar till nya förvaringsplatser. Detta skede markerar övergången från det Nya Riket till den Tredje Mellanperioden, då Egypten sönderföll i två separata stater. Genom att studera de primära källor som rör Butehamon, bland annat brev, etiketter på mumier, graffiti, bilder och de högst ovanliga dekorationerna på Butehamons kista samt fynd från utgrävningarna av hans hus i Medinet Habu, undersöker denna uppsats vad man kan lära sig om Butehamon och projektet att flytta mumierna. Några av dessa källor tycks tyda på att han upplevde någon form av religiös kris, som kan ha utlösts av på skuldkänslor över hur han lät behandla de kungliga mumierna. Två av dessa kungligheter dyrkades som gudar i Deir el-Medinah och bilder på dem och delar av deras familj återfinns på Butehamons egen kista. Nyckelord: Butehamon, Dhutmose, Deir el-Medinah, mumier, cachar, begravning, Konungarnas dal, religiös kris 2 Contents Chronology _________________________________________________________________ 3 Introduction ________________________________________________________________ 4 Deir el-Medina ___________________________________________________________________ 4 The Wḥm-Mswt__________________________________________________________________ 6 The Sources of Butehamun ____________________________________________________ 6 The Houses ______________________________________________________________________ 6 The Reburial Project _____________________________________________________________ 9 The Letters _____________________________________________________________________ 10 Graffiti and Dockets _____________________________________________________________ 13 The Caches and Butehamun ______________________________________________________ 14 The Ostracon ___________________________________________________________________ 20 The Coffins ____________________________________________________________________ 22 Finding Butehamun _________________________________________________________ 24 Image credits _______________________________________________________________ 26 Bibliography _______________________________________________________________ 26 Abbreviations CD Coffin dockets LD Linen dockets LRL Late Ramesside Letters WD Wall dockets (=graffiti within tombs) Special thanks to Silvia Mosso of the Egyptian Museum in Turin, Luc Delvaux of the Royal Museum in Brussels, Sue Giles of the Bristol Museums, Hans-Hubertus Münch of the University of Basel, and Daniel Potter of the University of Liverpool for their help. 3 Chronology Denotes reigns or known service as scribe. Royal dates based on Shaw (2000). Non-royal dates very approximate, especially reign of Herihor. Death dates of Dhutmose and Butehamun presumed. 4 Introduction The workers who built the tombs in the Valley of the Kings lived for many generations in a village that today we call Deir e-Medina. When the kings of Egypt moved away from their religious capital of Thebes and started building tombs elsewhere, that activity eventually ended. But against the background of tomb robbers, attacks by Libyans, and the loss of the resources of Nubia, the High Priests of Amun in Thebes started a new project. The remaining villagers removed royal mummies from their exposed tombs, rewrapped them carefully, removed all the gold and jewels and other valuables from the mummies and their tombs, and reburied the mummies in secret caches. The project was led initially by the Scribe of the Necropolis Butehamun and his father Dhutmose, whose family had been scribes in the village for many generations. The earliest definite mention of Butehamun as a scribe is in year 20 of Ramses XI (approximately 1079 BC). He was definitely active at least until year 14 of Smendes, and possibly as late as Year 16 of Smendes. As his son Ankhefenamun (who wrote a graffito mourning the death of his father) held the title of ‘Royal Scribe’ in year 16 of Smendes (approximately 1053 BC), it is possible that Butehamun was no longer alive then.1 (See Chronology above.) In connection with his work, Butehamun left more than 100 graffiti around Western Thebes.2 He left other traces as well. Some 50 personal letters involving the residents of Deir elMedina have been found, almost all written by or to Butehamun or his father Dhutmose. Their house in Medinet Habu, where the family relocated as the village ended, has been excavated. The scribe wrote a unique letter to the coffin of his departed wife. And his own coffins were painted with images of royals he apparently helped rebury. This is a textual and material study of evidence surrounding Butehamun. It seeks to put into context what primary sources associated with this individual can tell us about his personal history, especially concerning his major project reburying royal mummies from the Valley of the Kings. Deir el-Medina The site we call Deir el-Medina (Figure 1) takes its name from a Coptic monastery built in the area after the arrival of Christianity. During the Egyptian New Kingdom it was called ‘St M3ˤt’, ‘The Place of Truth’, and was home to the artisans who worked to build the royal tombs in the nearby Valley of the Kings, and their families. It was legendarily established by King Amenhotep I, who was later worshipped in the village as a deity, although it seems more likely the actual founder was his successor Thutmose I.3 1 Davies (1999), 138 and (1997) 62 and 67, Häggman (2002) 340, citing a graffito copied by Howard Carter. 2 Häggman (2002), 23. Davies (1994) seems to effectively refute the suggestion in Niwinski (1984) that there was more than one scribe in Deir el-Medina named Butehamun. 3 Häggman (2002), 58. 5 On a cliffside overlooking the village was a temple dedicated to Amenhotep and his mother Queen Ahmose-Nefertari.4 The original village seems to have been abandoned under Akhenaten, when the royal tombs were built near his new capital of Amarna, farther north.5 But with the end of the Amarna period and the return of the kings to Thebes, the village was reestablished, apparently under Horemheb.6 Figure 1, Deir el-Medina, Photo: Steve F-E-Cameron/Creative Commons There the families of up to 120 craftsmen lived7, led by foremen and scribes, while they dug and decorated the tombs of Egypt’s royalty, hidden in the nearby valleys. The task of the village continued for many generations, until the depredations of Libyan attackers, and the cessation of the construction of new royal tombs in the Valley when the 21st Dynasty established its capital at Tanis in the north, undermined the need for its existence.8 The number of workmen in the village, around 29 during the reign of Ramses X, was down to 16 by year 8 of Ramses XI. But it increased again during the subsequent period of ‘rebirth’ or ‘renaissance’ called the Wḥm-Mswt.9 4 Porter and Moss (1964), 693-694. 5 Häggman (2002), 60. 6 Demaree, R. in Wilkinson and Weeks (2016), 75-77. 7 Häggman (2002), 61-62, 352. 9 Häggman (2002), 352. 9 Bierbrier (1984), 119. 6 The Wḥm-Mswt The term Wḥm-Mswt had been used before, at the beginning of the 12th and the 19th Dynasties to mark a ‘rebirth’ after a period of chaos. This 20th Dynasty ‘Renaissance of the 12th Century BC’10 seems to have begun during the 19th year of Ramses XI. The nature of the period is unclear but it appears to mark the waning of power of the central monarchy, and the growth in power of the High Priests of Amun in Thebes. Van Dijk says it began when General Piankh, having driven a rebellious